


The A is for Anonymous

by monkeyanddog



Series: The Ramen Bowl [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Hyuuga Neji Lives
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:14:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22823884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monkeyanddog/pseuds/monkeyanddog
Summary: Of course Neji didn't die. Surprised? So is he. As he comes to learn how he survived, what he survived, and what the world now has in store for him... Neji is done. Done with life.Unfortunately for him, life is no way near done with him.
Relationships: Hyuuga Neji & Rock Lee & Tenten, Konoha 12 & Uzumaki Naruto
Series: The Ramen Bowl [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1611883
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	The A is for Anonymous

_Drip._

By now, Neji had a pretty good idea on what to expect even before he opened his eyes. After two years of being jōnin, you learned to accustom yourself to waking up in a hospital bed more often than not. Even before properly waking, most were able to figure out which part of the hospital they were in. 

_Drip._

Neji scrunched up his nose, taking brief stock of his body: the damage he could feel, the parts that felt oddly numb -- overall, not bad. Could definitely be worse.

But then when he flexed his chakra, two things became immediately obvious.

One -- he was not in his usual room. In fact, he was not even on the jōnin-assigned floor.

Two -- something was directly above him. And there was… rain… dripping onto him? Rain? _Indoors?_ He opened his eyes and-

“What the hell.”

There was an ANBU on the ceiling. 

Neji got one brief moment to absorb this before the heavens opened up above him. 

_Is this an attack? A special jutsu?_ Neji flinched, but then -- was that -- he heard crying. It was like looking straight up into a waterfall, as water welled and gushed from two eye-holes and cascaded over the sides. For a minute Neji found himself drowning, both in utter confusion and also in actual _tears?_

“Sensei?”

It had come out automatically. 

Horrified, Neji stared up at the (frog? lizard?) ANBU, whose --

He leant back just a little so he could see the top of the ANBU’s head. Black, shiny hair, in an undeniably distinctive bowl-cut.

“Sensei,” he said, certain this time. There was no longer any doubt, but the… the -- “Sensei, what are you doing?”

The ANBU froze, and abruptly the deluge cut off. 

Then, the ANBU slowly lifted a hand from the ceiling to point at himself, as if to go ‘ _Me?’_

Neji tilted his head, trying to decide whether this was some sort of joke or not, or if there was an actual reason for Gai-sensei to be stuck to his ceiling in ANBU gear _._ The lack of green jumpsuit was sort of throwing him off, and was that a _cast on his right leg??_

Just as he was about to demand an explanation, the door swung open.

“Ah! Finally,” a very satisfied voice exclaimed. 

“Sakura,” he said, pointing above himself, as though the ANBU were a very large spider and not an elite shinobi. “Sakura, there is an ANBU on the ceiling.”

She glanced up and hummed. “Yes, it does appear so.” 

Then she picked up a clipboard by his bed and proceeded to go through his charts and medical notes, instead of addressing the _strange man on Neji’s ceiling_. Eventually she seemed to realise Neji’s distress. 

“Oh, there’s no need to be alarmed. He’s been watching you for weeks now.”

He stared at her. Was that supposed to comfort him? 

Wait a second. Weeks? Watching him? 

_Weeks?!_

“The battle,” he managed to choke out. “Did we -- ?”

Once again she flapped her hand, wafting aside his mounting panic. “Done and dusted.”

That at least settled one thing, though it did generate many more questions too. The expression on Sakura’s face was rather inscrutable, but she didn’t look like she was going to expand on more than that right now. And if there had been any truly devastating news -- to him personally -- surely, despite her best efforts, it would show. Stowing his questions away for later, Neji turned his attention back to the current matter.

“Is there any specific reason why I’m being watched by ANBU?”

The ANBU, oddly enough, now appeared to be clinging to the ceiling by his fingertips, and looked like he was about to lose his grip. That didn’t help Neji’s nerves at all, considering what damage a fully grown man falling on top of him from such a height might cause him.

Sakura sighed, hugging the clipboard to her chest. “Protection duty was it, ANBU-san?” she called. To Neji, she explained, “Apparently you’re being guarded.”

The ANBU was scrabbling at the ceiling now, that one leg in a cast rattling in its casing. Neji stared at him and tried to predict the next few moments. Most likely the man would fall and crush him to a pulp. Considering how little he could move at the moment, he did his best to calmly accept his fate.

Especially since it seemed that Sakura wasn’t exactly rushing to his rescue.

“Guarded from _what_?”

“I don’t really know. Being lonely? _ANBU-san,_ ” she suddenly snapped, shocking Neji at her sudden switch in tone. “You can see that he’s awake. It’s time for you to get _down_ now! Do I need to call the Hokage again? I didn’t think so. Now get back in bed. Go. _Shoo._ ”

Thankfully, the ANBU’s descent wasn’t as sudden or suffocating as Neji had been anticipating. Somehow, he scuttled across the ceiling to drop down beside the bed onto one foot, the cast carefully kept off the floor. His landing was about as graceful as a brick hitting concrete -- horrifically loud for a shinobi, and even worse for an ANBU. Even more troubling was that despite his face remaining hidden, Neji found it startlingly easy to read him. That shouldn’t be _possible._

“You know full well how much work it took to heal you, so unless you want it done again, _you will get back into bed immediately._ Am I understood?”

The ANBU nodded dejectedly and scurried out of the room on one leg.

When Sakura turned back to Neji, cheerfully calm once again, he made his best effort to look as obedient and restful as possible. Tenten had never had such mood swings. At least, not with him. He wasn’t quite sure how to handle someone who did.

“Now,” Sakura said. “Tell me Neji, what is the last thing you remember?”

“Um…” The dark sky, the scent of blood, the _freaking huge jūbi staring all of them down --_ “Being impaled,” he said tightly, mostly remembering the sickening _squelch_ of the wooden spikes slamming through him. The crunch of his bones. Then falling and being caught by Naruto.

The look she gave him was eerily similar to Tsunade’s infamous stare, though she then widened her eyes meaningfully _(hopefully?)_ at him. “Anything else?”

 _Else?_ What else was there to remember? 

“Uh…” After, there had been that little chat with Naruto. Neji’s last words. Nothing he wanted to talk about right now. “No.”

“You sure?” she pressed. Neji huffed. Sakura’s stare softened, and then, bizarrely enough she _smiled_. “That’s great!”

Somehow, that smile rubbed him the wrong way. Hadn’t he almost _died?_

Actually, scratch that. He _had_ died, hadn’t he? He at least remembered _that_ much had happened _._ Which begged the question: how?

He opened his mouth to ask, but then the door slammed open.

“NEJI!!”

A green blur hopped through the door, and then there was Gai-sensei in all his glory, weeping happily by his bedside yet again. Neji could only stare at the all-too-familiar sight, oddly comforted yet at the same time equally dismayed. There was no mask anymore, though the jumpsuit was back -- how? Why? _When?_

To top it all off, Sakura didn’t so much as blink at the sudden reappearance of his sensei. She merely shooed him away with the clipboard.

“ _Bed,”_ she insisted sternly, swatting at Gai until he hobbled over to the adjacent bed.

Oh. 

Oh no.

“We’re sharing a room?” 

Somehow this was a more horrifying prospect than remembering his near brush with death.

Gai beamed at Neji as he wriggled under the covers, and -- was that a cast? Yes, that was definitely a cast. Who the hell did Gai think he was? It hardly took having the Byakugan for someone to recognise that the ANBU from before had _also_ had a cast, and therefore… Gai-sensei had to be the ANBU _._ It might sound crazy, but there was now no doubt in Neji’s mind. 

It was, after all, as they said: _‘if looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.’_

Even if that duck was in fact moonlighting as an _exceptionally trained ANBU operative._

“My wonderful student!” the man, or duck, in question cried joyfully. “You are awake at last!” 

Neji glowered at his exuberance, thoroughly done with whatever game he was playing.

“What were you doing on the ceiling?” 

“Gai-sensei,” Sakura cut in smoothly, her voice chiding. “You know better than to leave your bed. The rules clearly state that -- ”

It occurred to Neji that Sakura wasn’t saying anything about it. She was acting as though it were perfectly normal that Gai had been _‘ANBU-san’_ mere minutes ago, and pretty much ignoring all of Neji’s questions.

_Why wasn’t she saying anything?!_

Was this a prank? It certainly felt like a prank, but Sakura has never seemed one to cause mischief, and Gai-sensei was far too noble to do such a thing. Which meant… Neji turned his attention to the needle in his arm. 

… It had to be drugs.

“ -- is not a hotel, you know. You can’t come and go as you please -- ”

“Where did you go just now?” Neji interrupted, pinning his sensei with his most penetrating glare. 

He might be high as a kite, but he sure as hell wasn’t stupid, and if Sakura was scolding Gai for leaving his bed then that meant he must have gone _somewhere_. Neji’s eyes pointedly flicked upwards and back to Gai.

The man’s smile wavered.

“The… bathroom?”

Neji didn’t bite.

“Then where, might I ask, did _ANBU-san_ go?” he asked, eyeing the lumpy cast still visible under the thin sheets. “Or am I no longer under his guard?”

“Of course you are.” Sakura casually scribbled something down, her impenetrable eyes and blasé tone giving little else away. Neji realised then that he would not be getting any answers from her about how obviously ANBU-san and Gai-sensei were related. 

Resigned to digging out answers from his sensei once they were alone, Neji settled back in his bed. “How bad is it?”

“It could have been much worse,” Sakura answered honestly. “You took a lot of damage to your torso, obviously, and it’s been mostly fixed, but it’s the reconditioning that’ll take time. You’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of you, but we’re confident in the end that you will make a full recovery.”

Neji gave the smallest sigh, relieved that it wasn’t the end of his time as a shinobi. 

“Luckily,” Sakura went on to say, a smirk growing on her face. “You don’t have to recover alone.”

There was a distinctly wet sniffle on the bed beside him. Neji determinedly kept his eyes fixed on Sakura.

“I beg your pardon.”

She grinned. “Gai-sensei is still going through his own physical therapy, and has generously offered to combine sessions with you.”

“That really isn’t necessary.”

“He insisted.”

Neji turned to face his sensei, who stared back with watery eyes. “…Thank you, Sensei.”

“Have no fear, Neji-kun! With you and I working together, I have the utmost faith that we will recover in no time! No time at all!” His smile became blinding. “It will be just like old times!”

His borderline manic enthusiasm had Neji sweating, but in some ways, that in itself was comforting in its familiarity. The war couldn’t have been that disastrous if Gai-sensei was still able to get pumped up like that, tears and all.

“If that will be all, I’d better inform the rest of your teammates that you’ve woken. Someone will be by in a bit to change out your IV bag.”

He nodded. “Thank you.”

“It really is great to have you back with us, Neji,” Sakura said, smiling again as she reached over to lay a hand on his forehead. 

Cool green chakra swept through him, and Neji felt his heart-rate immediately start to slow down. Under the protective eyes of his sensei, he allowed himself to drift with the chakra Sakura was gently pushing into him. He decided that all of this nonsense could wait until later, when he woke up again, hopefully more coherent and ready to face it.

“Get some rest,” Sakura said softly. Just as he started to sink into unconsciousness, he heard Sakura go on to mutter under her breath, “ _You’re gonna need it._ ”

Well.

There went his hopes for a pleasant awakening.

* * *

The next time Neji opened his eyes, it was to find that the person standing at the end of his bed wasn’t one of his other teammates, but Shikamaru, and when he turned to check the other bed, Gai-sensei wasn’t there. 

“So,” Shikamaru drawled, slouching with his hands in his pockets. “You must be confused as all hell. Probably wondering what the heck is going on, right?”

Neji had never considered Shikamaru a particularly close friend, but right then he could _hug_ him.

Well, maybe not.

But he _was_ grateful for Shikamaru at that moment. _‘Confused as all hell’_ was by no means an exaggeration. 

“Yes,” Neji agreed. “Mostly wondering how I am alive, but also many, _many_ other things.”

Shikamaru nodded sagely, “You saw Gai-sensei then.”

Did he mean ANBU-Gai or Gai-sensei-Gai? Either way --

“Yes,” Neji glanced at the empty bed. “Yes, I did.”

“He’s hardly left your side since you were admitted,” Shikamaru said. “Though part of that was due to being bed-bound himself for the first week or so.” _Bed-bound?_ The genius pinned Neji with a strangely knowing look. “I heard he was on the ceiling again.”

 _Finally!_ Confirmation. Neji couldn’t help but sigh in relief, “I thought it was the drugs.”

“You _wish_ it was the drugs.”

Neji agreed wholeheartedly. Although it was great news that he wasn’t hallucinating things, once again he was left with a dozen more questions. Namely: “He’s ANBU?”

He asked this in a hushed tone, head angled towards Shikamaru and away from the window. It’s not so much that no one was supposed to talk about ANBU in public, more that it was expected that you take measures not to be overheard if you did. To Neji’s continued confusion and mild irritation though, Shikamaru merely looked amused by his caution, and rocked his hand as if to say _‘so-so’_. 

“Sort of,” was his cryptic answer. 

“Maito Gai, the self-proclaimed Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha -- _that_ Gai,” he confirmed in his slowest, most serious tone. “… Is ANBU?”

Shikamaru actually laughed. “You saw him. What other proof do you need? It’s not like they hand ANBU masks out like candy, you know.” His smirk widened, and then there was an odd glint in his eye. “That being said -- ”

The door banged open.

“My dear student!” Gai exclaimed, wheeling himself over to Neji one-handed, his free arm flapping about. He’d lost none of his vibrancy even in a wheelchair. _Why_ was he in a wheelchair? “I am so sorry I wasn’t here when you woke again!” 

“How was PT, Gai-sensei?” Shikamaru asked politely. 

“Splendid! Though it was a little shorter today. I had to have another scan.” 

Someone who hadn’t been trained by Gai might have missed the fractional dimming of his grin, but to Neji it was very obvious. Apparently Shikamaru’s perceptiveness also extended to him recognising this, because he tactfully didn’t press for more information. As per usual when facing one of his upset teammates, Neji blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“You’re ANBU,” he said, and the little lap Gai had been making around the room stopped mid-circuit, just like that.

“… Hahahaha! What a _remarkable_ imagination you have! The wonders of youth never cease to amaze -- ”

“He knows,” Shikamaru cut in, bringing his blabbering to a merciful close.

Gai _gurgled._

Sparing his sensei a brief glance of polite concern, Neji turned to address another thing brought to light. “How did _you_ know he was ANBU?” he asked, and then narrows his eyes even further. “In fact, why did you come here?”

Shikamaru went across to draw the curtains and slapped a seal on the fabric. He then went to place another on the door, which he also locked. Then he crossed his arms, the action forcing him marginally more upright.

Official business then, and from the looks of it, _classified_ business.

“I need your help,” he said.

Neji blinked. Then he gave his weak and bed-bound body an extra deadpan look, since he still couldn’t even lift a hand to properly convey his skepticism. The look alone should say enough for his feelings on the matter. 

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. “Not _now_ , obviously.”

“What do you want?”

“You in ANBU.”

Neji didn’t quite follow.

If the war had just ended, then all focus should be on _recuperation_. Why would Shikamaru be concerned with ANBU recruitment at this time? Neji didn’t think he had anything to do with the covert organisation. It made no sense for Shikamaru to prioritise something like that over more important issues.

Unless.

“Did something happen?”

Shikamaru laughed again, but this time it was a harsh, ugly sound that made Neji wince.

“ _War_ happened,” he said bitterly, and he sounded so weary that Neji had to remind himself that he was, in fact, one year younger than him. Shikamaru scraped a hand over his face, adding to his image of an old man. 

But Sakura had said --

_**Done and dusted**. _

“Who?” Neji croaked.

Suddenly he was back on the battlefield, surrounded by his friends, his teammates, his teachers and allies. The sky was dark and they were facing a mighty beast, and it was spitting out giant balls of bijū chakra. Neji and his fellow Hyuugas were forced to watch as it struck again and again and again. Then one flew north, in the direction of…

His veins flooded with ice.

And suddenly Neji couldn’t bring himself to look Shikamaru in the eye for love or money.

Not when he’d seen the killing blow himself.

“Don’t worry. It missed.”

For a moment the words didn’t sink in. 

“What?”

Shikamaru wandered into his line of sight, and Gai’s hand on his shoulder startled him so badly he almost swallowed his tongue. He rolled the words over in his head. _**It missed**. It missed. _They didn’t make sense. He’d seen it happen.

But from the look on Shikamaru’s face, somehow he knew and was referring to exactly which strike Neji was thinking about. Had he not been renown for his awesome intellect often giving him the uncanny ability to guess people’s thoughts, Neji would have suspected Shikamaru of being part-Yamanaka.

“The bijū ball didn’t land a direct hit on HQ. It was still big enough to cause a lot of damage, but not a total wipe-out. There were survivors. However, a lot of the other bijū balls _did_ manage to hit their mark.” Then Shikamaru delivered the finishing blow. “Our numbers are now half what they used to be.”

_Half._

Again, the question blared in his head: _who?_

“Do not despair, Neji,” Gai said gently, squeezing his shoulder until he turned around to face him. “We are still blessed to have come out on the other side of this victorious.”

He was right, but what a hollow victory it was if all their loved ones were dead.

“Right now the Five Kage are working to reform the Alliance into a Shinobi Union. It goes without saying that maintaining current relationships with the other villages is vital to preserving this peace,” Shikamaru explained. “So far, it’s going pretty well.”

It was strange to think of the time that had passed by while Neji had been unconscious. “I’m sensing a ‘but’.”

Shikamaru hummed. “ _But_ , it wasn’t the older generations who spearheaded this union and much of the current peace. It’s time for us to step up and take a more active role in the running of the village.”

Haven’t they been doing that for most of their lives already?

“The actual _running_ of it, Neji,” Shikamaru stressed, and Neji was really starting to worry that either he was completely losing control of his facial expressions or Shikamaru was actually a mind-reader after all. “Whilst we all have plenty of field experience, what we’ve been doing up until now has been largely following orders from other people.”

That didn’t seem accurate. After all, Shikamaru had essentially become the Fourth Division Commander during the battle, and the actions of the Konoha 11 have left their mark on the village, shinobi and civilians both. What stopped him voicing these thoughts was that one sentence which swam around his head, like sharks circling a drop of blood. 

_Our numbers are now half what they used to be._

“The future of this world belongs to its youth,” Gai piped up, dragging Neji’s mind away from his tumultuous thoughts. “And it is in the hearts of the young that the Will of Fire burns most brightly! The peace we have all fought for is yours now to keep, Neji. You and your generation. Protecting it with everything we have is the best way to honour those we have lost.”

Neji forced himself to nod. He still had no idea who they had lost, but there was no strength left in him to ask.

“So,” Shikamaru said, “The thing is, the trust built between shinobi on the battlefield has yet to cement between the shinobi villages. One war isn’t enough to overcome years and years of bloodshed and old feuds, especially since the only thing that was uniting the villages has been defeated. We _had_ a common enemy, but now...”

“We have nothing,” Neji finished for him.

“Exactly,” Shikamaru nodded. “Everyone is watching everyone else for the first misstep that will plunge us back to the way things were before.”

“Spies,” Neji realised. 

“Black ops,” Shikamaru corrected him. “All the villages will be doing it. Information gathering, low level rumour-mongers, surveillance… Until peace is better established it’s to be expected, and so long as it’s expected we can control what information leaves the village.”

Shikamaru was basically telling him that Tsunade-sama wanted to maintain the peaceful tree-hugger image of Konoha, whilst simultaneously making certain that the other villages were doing the same. A real fake-it-til-you-make-it approach until the villages could really trust one other instead of just playing pretend. 

Under Gaara’s command, there was no doubt that Suna would play along. Naruto had forged those bonds between their villages ages ago, just as he had with Kumo more recently. Iwa and Kiri would have no choice but to follow when faced with the triple powerhouse alliance Naruto had forged.

The peace they were working toward would still be a long time coming, but it wasn’t so distant as Neji had once imagined. 

“Tsunade-sama has already sent out plenty of our ANBU forces to monitor the situation in the other villages. We can’t afford to take any risks with everything being so tense. She’s even been sending people from outside of ANBU,” Shikamaru said. “Which means a lot of our remaining Jōnin are out of village too. The workload has been shifted down. Chūnin are taking the hardest hit: having to help the civilians rebuild; managing genin teams without senseis; as well as covering a larger range of ranked missions. They’re being spread too thin.” 

Shikamaru himself was still a chūnin, Neji couldn’t help thinking, and yet here he was: stood at the Hokage’s side, taking on a job someone twice his age would likely be struggling with. 

He was one to talk about being hard hit. 

“Simply put, the village is facing the problem of being left understaffed and overqualified.”

Everyone knew that an overworked but under-utilised ninja was a wasted asset, but worse than that, they were a ticking bomb. With the issue of too many overqualified chūnin soon clogging up the system, frustration building up from being held back from jōnin rank, and -- oh yes _\--_ _all the_ _trauma from the war_ , it was the perfect recipe for disaster. Neji predicted that the training grounds wouldn’t survive past the next year, what with all those emotions needing to be let loose somewhere.

He hummed, starting to see where this was going.

There was a reason why shinobi usually needed to be promoted as they grew stronger, and it wasn’t just for the perks of better pay. When a shinobi’s skills exceeded their current rank, it became very much like a child outgrowing their clothes. A child needs new clothes or risks public indecency, though in the case of shinobi confined to an outdated rank that indecency might result in broken bones or damage to public property. A much more destructive and much less controllable outcome. 

A whole village’s worth of restless, under-stimulated, traumatised shinobi simply did not bear thinking about. 

The only way to solve this was for Tsunade-sama to swiftly hand promotions out to her panicking shinobi like the safety blankets they essentially were _whilst she still could_. Mass field promotions were only allowed for a certain length of time after a war, needing no exams or assessments beyond the Hokage’s approval. Chūnin promoted to jōnin would then be able to fill in the positions left vacant by the out-of-village shinobi with full clearance, and take up the mentoring of new genin teams that had been left without a sensei after the war, thus keeping them thoroughly occupied while also keeping up the strength of their future shinobi forces. It would make Konoha look stronger too, to quickly build up the village forces with strong jōnin.

More jōnin also meant that Konoha could turn over more high-ranking missions, and therefore bring more money more quickly into the village. Reparations would get the needed funding, and shinobi would have a _productive outlet for their pent-up emotions_ instead of taking it out on the poor training grounds. It was a win-win, as far as Neji could see.

“By the way,” Shikamaru said suddenly. “The Rokudaime Hokage has been named.”

The first thing Neji thought in response was, _oh my god Naruto did it_.

But then the logical side of his brain kicked in, and he gave Shikamaru a much more placid hum. His feigned nonchalance shattered when Gai let out an unexpected cry in lieu of Shikamaru giving him the awaited answer.

“It will be hard to compete with him now, but I am certain there is no one more deserving of the honour than my Eternal Rival!!” 

_Of course_. _That makes much more sense._

Neji nodded, and made another appropriate noise of approval while simultaneously squashing down the small wave of disappointment that came with his understanding. 

Shikamaru grunted. “But while Kakashi-sensei has technically been given the title, with everything happening it will be a while yet until he’s officially sworn in.” There was a sharp look in Shikamaru’s eyes as he went on. “In the interim, we have the opportunity to lay down some groundwork.”

“And this involves me in ANBU… how?”

Shikamaru let out a long sigh, but Neji couldn’t help it if he needed Shikamaru to explain his plans to him a little more. While he was a prodigy in his own right, whatever mind game Shikamaru was playing on the village was too many steps ahead for Neji to be able to predict the endgame. This was also only the second time he’d woken up.

“Since Sandaime’s time in office the Council has gained too much power against the Hokage. Tsunade-sama has _strongly hinted_ that there are going to be some changes made to the current Council seats… when she isn’t chasing after Kakashi-sensei to complete the paperwork transfer.”

“The Elders won’t leave quietly,” Neji said automatically. They never did.

But there was no surprise on Shikamaru’s face, and he realised then that this was _all_ part of the plan. He sighed.

“And what are we going to be doing while the Elders are distracted?”

Shikamaru looked smug when Neji said ‘we’, but considering everything he’d been told, it’s hardly as if Neji _wasn’t_ going to go along with whatever convoluted plans Shikamaru had thought up. 

Neji would be more annoyed about the manipulation if he wasn’t so damn curious.

“Kakashi-sensei’s term as the Sixth Hokage will primarily be a time for the Hokage to regain control over the various councils and shore up village security,” Shikamaru said, “Thereby clearing the way for when the _Seventh_ Hokage is eventually named.”

Shikamaru shot him a loaded look, and Neji immediately got it. That little bubble of excitement from before swelled up again, and Neji couldn’t help but smile a little at the thought of an orange-clad Hokage. Shikamaru’s face bore a similar expression.

“Until then, however,” Shikamaru continued. “What he will need are people already in place that he can trust -- trust absolutely -- to support him.”

Shikamaru’s tone implied a threat. A threat to Naruto’s path to becoming Hokage.

Unacceptable.

“Did you know,” Gai said, rather quietly. “That Sandaime-sama had ANBU keep an eye on Naruto-kun in his youth?”

That fact didn’t surprise Neji. Naruto not only contained the nine-tailed bijū -- a vital asset to the village safety as a war deterrent -- but he was also the only son to the Yondaime Hokage, as well as being one of the last Uzumaki alive. Leaving him unguarded would’ve been stupid. And those were only the kinder reasons for him needing a guard. 

Neji could also guess that the ANBU were not only assigned to guard _Naruto_ from threats, but to guard the _village_ against threats from the child jinchūriki as well. 

Whilst the boy would have been kept safe inside the village, he was still left unprotected against their own villagers’ hatred. Perhaps the ANBU had been ordered to allow that on purpose. Or perhaps it was the Sandaime’s decision to do so: to have them report but not interfere on Naruto’s behalf, to watch for any leak of the Kyuubi’s chakra, to test a young Naruto’s limits. It was horrible to think about, but not impossible, nor unlikely.

Sarutobi Hiruzen wasn’t called the God of Shinobi for nothing. He’d lived through three wars and led Konoha through two of them. Neji doubted he was unused to making hard decisions for the sake of Konoha, even involving those he was fond of, as he had been of Naruto.

“The Council insisted Sandaime-sama only use ANBU until Naruto-kun was eligible for Academy graduation,” Gai said. “After that it was assumed he would be strong enough to protect himself with help from his jōnin-sensei.” 

They all knew that for Naruto there had been no option _but_ to become a shinobi if he was to ever learn how to control a bijū. It was by their luck that Naruto himself wanted to be a shinobi (and the top shinobi at that) in the end.

“In his early years Naruto-kun was quite easy to guard, I’m told,” Gai grinned. “But his youthful spirit could not be contained for long! It soon became a challenge for ANBU to keep up with the boy. Other shinobi had to be called on to assist them.”

Gai’s eyes were sparkling, and Neji was hit with flashbacks of various shinobi chasing after a cackling orange blur through the village.

“They started by asking genin teams to help, but Naruto-kun was _still_ too fast for them!” Gai sniggered. “Chūnin were then brought on, but even they were left empty-handed -- well, all except one! Jōnin were sometimes called upon too if they could be spared. Naruto-kun seemed to know the ins-and-outs of the village better than anyone.”

If anything, Gai seemed to recall the past failures of his fellow Konoha shinobi with far too much fondness. 

And _familiarity._

“By the time Naruto-kun was to attend the Academy, Sandaime-sama believed he needed a _personal_ guard. They had one candidate in mind who had successfully caught Naruto-kun before, but he was a chūnin and therefore did not have the clearance to understand all the dangers Naruto-kun might face. They tried to recruit him in order to grant him that access…”

Gai was looking meaningfully at Neji, and he knew to pay specific attention now that the conversation had turned -- ANBU recruitment. 

Much of ANBU and how the organisation worked was a secret from those outside it, but there was one thing known for certain to all shinobi. 

_You_ didn’t pick ANBU, _ANBU_ had to pick _you_.

“Unfortunately for them, he turned down the offer-”

Neji’s mind boggled at the thought. He’d never heard of someone turning down ANBU. _Who would have possibly turned down ANBU?_

“-but then my sensei recommended me!” Gai said, beaming proudly at his sensei’s praise. “As one of the fastest shinobi in the village, Chouza-sensei believed I would be an ideal candidate for Naruto-kun’s ANBU guard. The Hokage agreed, and I was put through induction.”

 _Induction_ , yet another thing for Neji to think about.

“I was one of Naruto-kun’s ANBU while he attended the Academy, and diligently guarded him up until his first graduation exam. Though he failed, I was released from my duty, and returned to the general forces -- just in time to become a sensei myself to you, my precious students!” 

And then Gai was looking at him with that _Look_ of his, the one he always sported right before he started blubbering from joy. Neji barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes as Gai’s eyes welled up and he clapped a hand on Neji’s shoulder. 

“It is now my turn to pass along ANBU recommendations on my students! Your youthful spirit shines so brightly with the Will of Fire, I am certain you will surpass all those before you and overcome any challenge to come, Neji-kun!”

Despite the snot and tears threatening to roll down Gai’s face, Neji did feel touched by his sensei’s words and his always unshakeable belief in Neji. 

He was also embarrassed, but that was a given. At least Shikamaru was enjoying the spectacle where he sat, smirking on Gai’s empty bed.

Once again, Neji’s mind went back to the battlefield, and how he and his peers became Naruto’s defence. How he’d leapt to shield Hinata with his body, who had in turn shielded Naruto with her own, and how he was prepared to die for both of them. 

In that moment, Neji realised that what had been his motivation then remained the same, and just as he’d defended Naruto on the battlefield, he was willing to do so again in whatever way was required. He was putting his life in Shikamaru’s hands, but Neji had trusted him in war, and so he would trust him now in peace.

Neji solemnly tipped his head, as close to a bow as he could manage in bed. “Thank you, Sensei. I will do my best, because that is what you have taught me.”

It was too much.

The dam burst and Gai wailed with joy, his tears forming a puddle in Neji’s lap. 

At that, Shikamaru slid off Gai’s bed, taking Neji’s words as good as confirmation. “This was a lot. We’ll talk more details another time.”

Neji nodded, resigned to waiting for Gai’s weeping to end. He’d only been given the bare outlines of this plan, and a lot of his questions were still unasked and unanswered, but it was enough for now to have a purpose to aim toward. He had plenty of reasons now to not only heal but to also get better. 

Shikamaru slouched over to the window, reaching for the seal he’d slapped on the curtain. His hand hovered over the paper, as he slid a look to Neji and Gai from the corner of his eye, “Ah, also, don’t go talking about all this to anyone except our friends. This isn’t a sanctioned mission, after all.”

“Not sanctioned?” Neji looked sharply between the other two in the room. “The Hokage doesn’t know about any of this?”

“They know,” Shikamaru shrugged, “They just can’t approve of it.”

“I see,” Neji said.

 _Can’t_ not _didn’t_ , the distinction very deliberate. Using _they_ Neji thought was another deliberate word choice too. Not _they_ as in the unspecified gender pronoun, but _they_ as in _more than one person_. In this case, more than one Hokage. 

If Tsunade-sama and Kakashi-sensei were both aware of the plan like Shikamaru said, authorising it might lead to trouble down the line. It could leave a paper-trail for dissidents to later use against the players Shikamaru was putting into place. _Of course_ the Hokage wouldn’t officially approve of what was essentially a takeover of the village administration by their generation.

But neither had the Hokages specifically forbidden this plan either. 

Not legalised, but not illegal. Which left just enough room for Shikamaru’s plan.

Shikamaru finally pulled down the seal from the curtain and moved to the one on the door, tucking the papers away into a pocket on his vest. Shikamaru lazily waved a hand as he left, “I expect the others will be by to see you when they’re free, so rest while you can.”

A part of Neji was almost looking forward to other visitors. Not the impending noise or chaos, but the chance to see with his own eyes that his friends and family were alive and well. 

* * *

_‘Have no fear’,_ he’d said.

 _‘Just like old times’,_ he’d said.

No way this was like old times. This PT session had again worked him harder than Gai-sensei ever would have allowed back in their genin days. Neji remembered almost dying in those those blink-and-you-miss-it rests between training drills, where Gai would insist that _“Youthful bones are still growing!”_ and then hand them each a half gallon of milk to chug. Back then, whenever a mission left them battered enough to require hospitalisation, Gai would make them a surprisingly forgiving training regimen to get them back on their feet.

The difference here was that it wasn’t Gai who was guiding them towards recovery this time. Neji had to take that into account when he wondered why his entire body felt like an overcooked noodle. 

With a blinding grin, Rock Lee threw him a thumbs-up and declared: “Excellent! What remarkable progress you have made, and it’s only been an hour!”

Had it? Had it _really?_

Neji couldn’t breathe, his body feeling alien to him in its current weakness. Aches and pains were normal in shinobi life, but now he was dealing with limbs that had wasted while he’d slept, a strange tightness in muscles that wouldn’t stretch fully, and with every breath there was this accursed _wheezing_. It was frustrating to work through, and Neji again swiped a handful of sweaty hair off his no doubt brick-red face -- and that was _another_ thing: his hair. 

Before the start to his first PT session, he was woken up at the ass-crack of dawn by Lee and carried (bridal-style, naturally) to the bathroom. It was with yet another nauseating jolt of surprise that Neji had seen in the mirror that his hair had been lopped off to just below his chin. Contrary to what most people thought, he had no strong sentimental attachment to keeping his hair long, and he wasn’t so vain that he cared what difference it made to his appearance, but _damn it._

It had been too goddamn early to have another thing in his life change on him without warning. 

He hadn’t cried, obviously. He’d merely glowered at his reflection for approximately eight minutes, after which, Lee decided it was time to check if he was well. When he came in and found Neji staring at the mirror, he freaked out in the only way that Rock Lee could do.

_“Oh, Neji!” Lee had cried, gathering his half-asleep and trying-very-hard-not-to-lose-his-shit teammate into his arms. “It had to be done! We tried our best to save your hair! Tenten washed it six times but it just wouldn’t come out -- ”_

_“What wouldn’t come out?” Neji had gritted out, latching onto that slip up immediately._

_Lee had frozen on the spot, and then laughed it off in the same manner Gai had done, before hurrying to assist Neji in getting ready for PT._

That’s right. Why he hadn’t realised _who_ it was that would be overseeing his PT sessions, Neji honestly couldn’t say. In hindsight, it was obvious, but perhaps with the last remnants of hope he’d somehow managed to hold onto Neji had been expecting to be given to someone with an ounce of mercy.

Alas… 

“Don’t be disheartened, my friend,” Lee said when the session was over, surprisingly gentle when he took Neji’s twitching hands in his. “I truly mean it when I say that you have done very well. I believe it won’t take long at all to get you strong enough for… whatever is to come,” he finished, smiling bashfully.

 _So he knows,_ Neji thought, reading his friend’s strained expression. Shikamaru had mentioned that their friends would know about the plan. Or perhaps Gai had told Lee himself. Either way, Neji found himself relieved that he wasn’t the only one in the know.

“Thank you, Lee,” he croaked, groaning when he was enfolded in a crushing hug and once again carried to his bed. There was no point trying to convince Lee to let him walk. The idiot had carried Gai to his bed too and even _tucked him in._

So, of course, he made sure to give Neji the very same treatment.

There were no such things as boundaries amongst teammates, but within Team Gai the notion of _‘personal space’_ had truly lost all meaning. Neji gave up on dignity concerning his teammates a _very_ long time ago. He didn’t fight it when Lee rearranged his arms to his liking and fussed over him like a mother-hen.

He pulled the sheets up to Neji’s chin, smoothed down his hair, patted him on the arm with a teary smile, and then finally (and very reluctantly) departed.

Once the door shut, Neji let out a huge sigh.

“Good lord.”

“Ahhhh. Isn’t it wonderful to move around after lying in bed all day?” a happy voice called from the other side of the room.

Oh, that’s right. 

“I thought you were sleeping, Sensei,” Neji said, in a tone that clearly meant _please, for the sake of my sanity, go the fuck to sleep._

“I was merely resting my eyes for a moment. I am always too pumped up to rest after training, Neji-kun! You know that!”

“Ah. I do.” 

“Adrenaline! Endorphins! _Youth!”_ Gai exclaimed, untucking himself from the sheets to wildly gesticulate with one hand. 

Neji hummed, poking at the cocoon of his own sheets. Whatever Lee had done to them, he was utterly trapped. Wonderful.

“How are you feeling?” Gai prompted, wriggling around to face his student. 

As though his bones had been ground up and his muscles mashed into pulp. “Sore,” he deadpanned, to Gai’s evident delight.

“That only proves that you have put your best effort into Lee’s exercises!” Gai boomed, radiating obvious approval. “Simply wonderful! At this rate we will both be out of hospital in no time!”

Out of the hospital and straight into ANBU training, presumably. Neji would frown if he could move his face muscles that far, but it was as if they’d been petrified. Even blinking was agony. If this exercise routine had really been _‘just like old times’,_ little-Neji from years ago would probably be dead.

It wasn’t even noon, there were still chakra exercises to do later, and yet Neji was _wiped out._

Unfortunately for him, Gai was not.

“I am so glad that we can work together to get better,” Gai exclaimed, sighing happily as he folded his arms behind his head. “Training with teammates is always more fun than training alone.”

Neji hummed, envious of how Gai was able to move at all after such a gruelling workout.

Lee had worked with each of them separately at first, to be able to support their semi-functional bodies moving around without injury. Naturally, Neji was quite happy to give up the first slot to Gai, and had been planning to meditate (doze) for the first part. 

But then he’d found himself watching them, or Gai, specifically.

He still didn’t know the full details of what happened to Gai, or why he’d been bed-bound for a time, but it was clear to Neji then how seriously hurt Gai must be by the fact that he hadn’t urged Lee to push him harder than they were going already. As he’d watched, Neji had begun to notice certain things that made him suspect that Gai’s injuries were more permanent than he’d first assumed. There was the fact that when Lee had walked Gai around the room he’d been using a cane to lean on, and Lee had to keep reminding Gai to use it. And after Gai had tired himself out, instead of hopping around on one leg, Lee took him out in the wheelchair to do laps in it down the corridor.

While he’d been waiting for them to return, Neji had taken note of the various braces and walking sticks leaned up against the wall beside Gai’s bed. The half-open scroll on Gai’s nightstand which seemed to show a diagram of chakra pathways in the human body. The bag of civilian clothing left hanging off the end of the bed.

To be honest, it was the last detail which had unsettled Neji the most. He could probably count on one hand the number of times he’d seen Lee or Gai in anything other than their customary matching green jumpsuits, so to see a _whole bag_ of plain black, standard issue uniform pants and shirts was like seeing a turtle out of its shell.

_Disturbing._

They’d been the clothes Gai had worn in his ANBU get-up though, and when Neji had quickly used Byakugan to check, the mask was stuffed under a pile of rather ratty underwear.

After they’d returned, Lee had been quick to throw Neji into _his_ turn for training with all the zeal his youthful spirit possessed, so Neji hadn’t been able to spare another thought for Gai’s condition until now. And yet, even with Gai very, _very_ eager to spend his time chatting with Neji… he just didn’t know how to ask what had happened.

Truthfully, he was scared of what his answer might be.

Because Gai -- disabled? Wheelchair-bound? Sure, it happened to shinobi, but not to _Gai_ . The man was moving _all the time._ His body was his pride and joy. His whole career was built on his physical prowess. How could someone like him be confined to a wheelchair for life?

Suddenly Neji felt a pang of guilt for begrudging Gai his enthusiasm and optimism. Having been told that he would make a full recovery, it seemed childish and ungrateful to fault Gai for enjoying himself where he could. _It isn’t youthful at all to think such things,_ the little-Lee in Neji’s head piped up, and in this one instance Neji agreed. 

“Neji-kun?”

He grunted, ever-so-slowly turning his head to face Gai. It was amazing how even his earlobes hurt from the therapy.

“Don’t worry, my dear student,” Gai said at a marginally more tolerable volume. “You will get better soon. Sakura-chan has estimated it will take no more than a few weeks for your lungs to be properly healed, and with Lee and my support you will regain your full strength -- oh! Maybe we can even _improve_ your leg strength!” There was a sudden, terrifying glint in Gai’s eyes that had Neji swallowing pitifully. “Since we must be gentle with your upper body, that means we can focus on developing your _lower body!_ It can be the reverse of the training regimen _I_ will be undertaking! Haha!”

“I suppose we can do that,” Neji replied as evenly as he could, feeling rather green at the thought of how much leg training Lee and Gai would inevitably push onto him. “About my training though, Sensei,” he added quickly, “Shikamaru told me that you would explain what was required to be accepted by ANBU.”

“But there isn’t anything further required from you,” Gai said, blinking in confusion, “ANBU are either chosen by the Hokage directly or nominated by previous ANBU members. If you have been deemed good enough to be recommended then it’s almost guaranteed you’ll be accepted.”

“There isn’t an exam or test…?”

“No. There will be an induction period, during which you will be taught how to operate as an ANBU,” he explained. “You will be taught how to walk, talk, and act like an ANBU, how to communicate with your partner in the mask, how to use ANBU hand signals and code. They will tell you which jutsu and what fighting style you should try to stick to for the majority of the time. Then you undergo training to hone your skills and help the Commander identify in which division you will specialise.”

None of that much surprised Neji. Anonymity was such a huge part of ANBU that he figured a lot of the training would focus on modifying his behaviour to become almost indistinguishable from the others. What Gai said about divisions was interesting though, and also --

“Partner?” he asked, frowning. 

“Oh, yes,” Gai nodded emphatically. “It’s a very important part of joining ANBU. Everyone is given a partner -- ”

“What for?”

“Many things. To have someone you can depend on, someone complementary to your specialty. It helps to have a friend when you’re going through all of this, so that you can learn together.”

“I suppose it’s for the missions too?” Neji clarified, already picking apart the advantages of having paired ANBU in his head. He hadn’t ever noticed them travelling or working in specific pairs, but it still made sense.

“Yes. It’s insurance for the Hokage, to have double the likelihood that missions will be completed.”

 _Insurance_. Neji had never liked that word attached to the shinobi career. It was rarely ever meant for the purpose of protection, but more for security’s sake. Village secrets. Defectors. No evidence left behind. It made sense that ANBU would want that guaranteed in every situation.

Partners.

“But most of all… in my opinion at least,” Gai concluded, his words starting to slur. Neji tipped his head, and sure enough his sensei’s eyes were drooping and his arms were slack at his sides. “‘S good to know you’re not alone. To have a friend. A touchstone.”

Neji considered that carefully. Whilst the icy clench of the _‘insurance’_ slant remained, he could see what Gai meant.

“‘nyway, Neji-kun,” Gai drawled, throwing up one last swaying thumbs-up. “D’nt you worry. Sensei will find you th’ _best_ partner. Noooo w’rry…”

Neji listened as Gai’s breathing petered out into rumbling snores. He tried his best to wriggle into a more comfortable position, but was reminded that he couldn’t move.

 _Sensei will find you the_ **_best_ ** _partner._

It took him seemingly ages to fall asleep with those words echoing in his head.

  
  


* * *

“Yes! One more, one more, Neji! Come on, you can do it -- ”

Had Neji been able to speak, he would’ve cursed the two idiots who were yelling at him till he was blue in the face. Seeing as he was already blue in the face, the best he could do was glare at them through teary eyes. The pain was excruciating, but the burn in his muscles was worth it. Three more pushes and he rolled sideways onto Tenten’s lap.

She scooped him up and squeezed him almost fully to death with those monstrously strong arms of hers, and then Lee piled on from the front, squashing the last of Neji’s breath from his lungs.

“That was _excellent!”_ he crowed, cupping Neji’s sweaty face. “Gai-sensei! Gai-sensei, did you see -- ”

“Of course I did!” Gai yelled, waving his cane around and almost clubbing an assisting trainer over the head with it. “Neji-kun! How are your legs?”

With Lee sat on top of them, Neji honestly couldn’t say. It was only the second week of treatment, and he’d been pumping weight machines for the past two hours on varying types of leg presses, with a warm up that had involved countless lunges and squats. On the one hand, at this rate Neji fully believed what Gai promised him before would inevitably come true: his leg muscle mass will probably have tripled by the time he’s released from the hospital. On the other hand: _pain_ , pain, agonising death-would-be-kinder _pain._

Part of Neji suspected the reason his teammates were pushing him beyond his usual capacity was because they were helping him to prepare. They must know about Shikamaru’s plan. The genius had been vague on exactly _who_ knew _what_ parts of the whole plan -- but they knew enough, perhaps, to realise that Neji needed to become better than he had been. It was all well and good to have their support, but still.

They were slave-drivers. Heartless. Utter sadists.

There was only one thing he could bring himself to say.

“I think I’m dying.”

Tenten and the PT trainers scattered around the gym sniggered at his suffering. 

“How am I not dead?” he groaned, whining when Lee started moving his legs about for him, stretching them out and massaging the taut spasming muscles. “Just so you know, I hate you both so much,” he informed them, wincing at every movement. “This isn’t therapy. It’s _torture.”_

Gai’s booming laughter and the titters of the room’s other occupants lulled Neji into a semi-meditative state. He tried his best to separate his mind as far away from his body as he could, and not let himself drown in the pain. It wasn’t so bad like that, with only the vaguest impressions of his teammates moving around him, the pressure of their hands keeping him grounded. The pain was reduced to a dull throb, and eventually Neji felt himself starting to nod off --

_Smack._

Everyone turned to the large windows, half of them already with various weapons at hand. The weapons were quickly tucked away though, and then laughter broke out again at a loud squeaking noise and muffled yelling from outside.

Neji’s head trembled where it was propped on Tenten’s shoulder, and as he opened his eyes to see what everyone was laughing over, this was what he woke to:- 

Naruto’s whiskered cheek squished against the glass.

He was being noisily dragged ever-so-slowly down the whole bank of windows along the end of the gym, spitting out muffled curses and insults throughout, and when he found the last window still locked, the volume of his voice rose significantly. Thankfully, Inoichi’s PT nurse quickly unlatched the window and promptly slid it open.

“-- Sasuke- _bastard!”_ Naruto roared, twisting around to glower at something below him. “You knew the window opened here, didn’t you?” 

There was a faint grumbled response. 

Naruto huffed and shifted his grip on the windowsill. “Gimme a boost, teme! I need to get through!”

He was then launched a scant few inches upwards, and managed to half-wriggle his way in with one arm, but the rest of him remained hanging out of the window.

“I am _not_ fat, asshole!” Naruto shouted, then turned his attention to his audience in the gym. Squinting his eyes to adjust from the sunny outdoors, he scanned the room twice before his bright blue eyes landed on Neji and immediately began to glisten. “Neji!” he exclaimed, scrabbling at the window frame like an excited puppy at the door.

Neji blinked a few times before responding. “Naruto.”

“Oh my god, _Neji!”_ he cried, and much to Neji’s alarm, tears began pouring down his face. “Neji, you’re _alive!_ ”

Briefly, Neji wondered whether him being dead was to be the question of the day.

“We thought you were _dead!”_ Naruto wailed, sniffing loudly. Lee immediately crawled over to the window to cry with him. Of course he did. 

Neji watched them cling to each other pathetically with a certain detachment, and felt very much like he didn’t deserve to be subjected to all of this, but with Tenten acting as a straitjacket there was no escape to be found. 

There was a low voice growling from outside, and suddenly Naruto screamed as he was left dangling by his fingertips. A burst of chakra flared from below, and then Sasuke made his appearance, gracefully leaping through the window over his teammate and landing inside without a sound. 

“Dobe,” he sighed, shaking his head at Naruto’s squawking. “We’re _ninja._ Use your freaking chakra already. Idiot.”

Naruto scoffed, and with Lee’s help dragged himself inside too. “You’re no fun, teme.”

“Hn.”

Some things never changed at least. Naruto and Sasuke were still _dobe_ and _teme_ , and even as Neji noticed the empty sleeves at their sides -- right and left arm respectively -- it didn’t feel nearly so jarring as seeing Gai in a wheelchair. Maybe because they were equally altered. Despite the changes, it was obvious that they were still, at heart, just a matched pair of reckless idiots.

“Anyway -- _Neji,”_ Naruto returned to his previous, in Neji’s mind, melodramatic wailing. “We thought you were _dead._ There were those spikes, and -- and you were _dead_ , you weren’t moving -- and there was blood everywhere -- and then, there was this huge slug, and it _ate_ you -- ”

Neji wheezed. “And then the _what_ did _what_ to me? _”_

Naruto didn’t seem to hear Neji over his nonsensical rambling. “We thought you were gone _forever!”_ he finished with a sob, letting Lee coo and fuss over him.

Neji’s throat clicked. Eaten? Slug? He found himself gawking at the jinchūriki, unable to fathom what he was saying. 

“Don’t be stupid,” Sasuke cut in, slapping Naruto over the back of his head. “He didn’t get eaten.” 

Turning to Neji with an unexpectedly apologetic look, Neji found himself relieved (much to his surprise) at the prospect of Sasuke giving him a hopefully more palatable and truthful explanation. 

But then Sasuke smirked. Viciously. “He was _regurgitated.”_

Neji choked, Tenten sputtered senselessly, and the entire room erupted into chaos. 

A lot of the trainers were yelling at Sasuke and trying for some reason to cover their patients’ ears. One slipped out of the room, no doubt looking for backup. Again, Neji didn’t know what to say or do, but then he was a fool to have expected anything less than madness from an Uchiha.

Naruto was still blubbering, and he pointed at Neji directly. “Your hair,” he gasped, miming at the new length of it. Neji sighed at the reminder. It _was_ an unfortunate length. Not long enough to be tied back, but long enough for it to fall into his eyes. “Lee and Tenten tried really, _really_ hard to save it. They tried _everything_ , but even industrial strength degreaser wouldn’t get it out -- ”

The gym door was suddenly slammed open so hard it ripped clean off its hinges, revealing a fuming pink-haired woman.

“ _YOU!_ ” Sakura growled, stomping across to her teammates and cracking her knuckles. “You two know you’re not supposed to be in here!” Without warning she launched Sasuke through the window by his scruff, and then shoved Naruto out butt-first after him. She leaned out to shake a fist down at them. “And stay out!”

Sakura then turned back to the suddenly silent room, her cheeks flushing to match her hair.

“I’m so sorry. They shouldn’t disturb us again,” she apologised, politely bowing. Then she rushed over to Neji, her smile becoming an oddly shaped thing. “Neji, did… did Naruto say anything weird to you?”

 ** _Slugs_**. Neji stared at the kunoichi with a dawning sense of trepidation that felt very much like nausea. Sakura’s summon was a slug. _He was regurgitated._

“They both did,” he croaked out, trying his best not to imagine... anything. With Tenten combing her fingers through his chin-length hair, Lee avoiding his gaze (still crying though), and the PT trainers wrapping up their sessions, there was a definite underlying tension in the room that he couldn’t quite read.

“Well, you know what they’re like! Trouble, the both of them,” she said dismissively, though she couldn’t hold his gaze long enough for her words to be convincing. “Anyway, I think that’s enough training for today. Back to your rooms now everyone.”

Sakura tucked a pink strand behind her ear and left with a parting nervous smile, nothing at all like the fearsome creature that had first stormed into the room. Neji doubted he’d ever become used to her sudden mood changes. It was like dealing with two people in one body. 

The other trainers finished wiping down the gym equipment and throwing used towels into a hamper by the door as they left, herding their patients out with gentle hands and the odd crutch or two. Despite resting since he finished his exercises, Neji’s legs still felt like jelly, and he was almost certain that he was upright only due to Tenten holding him up.

Lee skipped to Gai’s side and scooped up their sensei, the pair sprinting out of the gym yelling with enthusiasm. Neji expected to just wait for Lee to return and scoop him up in a bit, as was usual after a PT session, but instead--

“Hup!” Tenten huffed, getting to her feet with Neji securely cradled in her arms.

At least she didn’t start haring off after the rest of their team. Tenten walked at a much calmer pace back to his hospital room. Unfortunately it gave everyone a good long look at him as she smiled politely at everyone they passed in the corridor. 

Gai was already tucked back in bed by the time Tenten reached the room. Neji nodded in wordless thanks once she’d gently set him down too, and resigned himself stoically to Lee’s exuberant care. He also pretended not to see the half-amused half-worried look on Tenten’s face as she watched all the fussing. It was an expression he’d seen a lot since her first visit. It wasn’t the first time a teammate had been critically injured, but Neji suspected this was the closest to truly _losing_ a teammate their team had ever been.

“Here,” Tenten said, reaching for the bandage wrapping Neji’s head. “I’ll change that for you.”

He nodded gratefully. The sweaty gauze felt itchy against his forehead. Neji had yet to actually see whatever injury lay under the bandage, but it was apparently bad enough for his teammates to insist on being the ones to change it for him, even though he was now perfectly capable of doing so. 

It wasn’t as if Neji was unused to keeping his forehead covered. Whatever scar he wound up with would still be covered by the hitai-ate once he returned to active duty. It was easier to indulge them for now, rather than grumble in the face of Lee’s tears and Tenten’s disappointment at him causing those tears. 

“Right,” Tenten nodded when she was done, patting Neji on the foot and sending spikes of pain shooting up the muscles of his overworked leg. “They’ll be by in a bit to clean the rest of you up, so I might as well go now. Got a meeting soon anyway.”

“Oh?” Gai suddenly perked up on the other bed, beaming at his only female student. “You got it then? I knew you would!”

“Got what?” Neji grumped, a little annoyed to still be catching up on happenings that he’d missed while unconscious.

Tenten tipped her chin up, a proud tilt to her mouth as she pointed to herself with a thumb, “You’re looking at the newest recruit for Konoha’s Seal Specialists team.”

Gai and Lee cheered at the news, slapping thunderous high-fives while Neji took in the news. “Congratulations,” he said. “I hadn’t realised you were looking at further fūinjutsu work.”

“Yeah, well,” Tenten shrugged, cheeks flushed but preening under her team’s support. “You know how much I like my weapons. Fūinjutsu is just another skill to add to my arsenal.”

Neji nodded, “And you’re already familiar with seals.”

“Storage seals, maybe, I’ve still got a _lot_ to learn from them. But they were pretty impressed with what I can do already,” Tenten said. “I’ll always be Team Gai, but it’s good to spread our wings a little too, right?”

Yes. Yes, Neji understood that feeling perfectly.

With one last painfully affectionate pat on his ankle Tenten left, eager for her first meeting at her new post. 

Closing his eyes as he waited for the nurses to help him to the shower, Neji was able to rest for a mere _moment_ before there was a “ _Psst!_ ” hissed from the other bed. Ignoring it wouldn’t achieve anything, so he turned his head and looked. Lee hovered in front of the door, giggling as he shut it, and basically vibrating with excitement. Gai grinned at them both, before reaching under his pillow and pulling out--

A plain white mask.

Neji stared.

“When you finish your induction you will be given your painted mask, but for now -- here!” 

Gai tossed the mask from his bed, Neji catching it with a small fumble. He took in the smooth ceramic surface. And then he took in--

Lee, standing at the door, holding up an identical white mask to his face. Somehow his big eyes weren’t visible through the eyeholes, but the beaming smile still shone through the porcelain. 

“But, of course!” Gai whisper-shouted, sounding incredibly pleased. “The best partner for one student would be... _another_ of my precious students!”

Of course.

On the one hand, Neji did agree that it was a little comforting to go on this new adventure with someone he already knew and trusted. On the other hand… 

Lee… in ANBU.

Then again, if Gai had managed it…

“Yosh!” Lee whisper-shouted too, punching a fist into the air and tears dripping down from behind the mask. “I will not let you down, Neji! I will be the best ANBU partner, or I will climb the Hokage Mountain using only my thumbs!”

“That’s the spirit, Lee!” Gai pumped both arms in the air.

“Gai-sensei!”

Was he having an out-of-body experience?

Neji felt appalled by how reassuring he found that old routine, but it was good to remind himself that however much had changed while he’d been asleep, some things never would. Looking down at his new mask, he tried to imagine what the village would look like in the next five, ten years, when Shikamaru’s plans had further unfolded. 

There was a lot of hard work to come. But it would all be worth it, and Neji wouldn’t be working alone--

“Lee!”

“Gai-sensei!”

No matter how hard he might wish it sometimes.


End file.
